Night School, Public Seminar 3
Liam Gillick
Three Short Texts on the Necessity of Creating an Economy of Equivalence
New Museum
235 Bowery
New York, NY 10002
212.219.1222
Three one-hour lectures. The outline of a possible text. Five parts will be tested and developed quickly.
Thursday, March 27, 7:30 p.m.: The night before closure of an experimental factory.
Friday, March 28, 7:30 p.m.: Redundancy following the promise of infinite flexibility.
Saturday, March 29, 3 p.m.: Reoccupation, recuperation and pointless renovation.
A QUESTION OF WHERE TO COMMENCE NEW STRUCTURES IN LIGHT OF SOME RETURNS AND EMERGENCES:
THE POSTWAR AS A FINISHED MOMENT: IN THE EUROPEAN CONTEXT AND GLOBAL CONTEXT VIA COLD-WAR INDENTIFICATIONS (E.G. ILLUSION OF IDEOLOGICAL VICTORY OF THE RIGHT…)
THE INABILITY OF THE ART CONTEXT TO IDENTIFY WITH THE NEW CONDITIONS.
COALESCENCE OF INDUSTRIAL LABOUR IN CHINA (AMONG OTHER THINGS). THE FRAGMENTATION OF LABOUR IN DETAIL. SPECIFICALLY IN LIGHT OF VARIED SO-CALLED FREE-TRADE AGREEMENTS.
THE NECESSITY TO POSIT A NEW FRAMEWORK OF ACTION THAT CAN ACCOUNT FOR THESE LOSSES AND GAINS AND PREVENT THE MOST DYNAMIC WORK FROM BEING UNDERSTOOD AS OPERATING WITHIN AN INSTRUMENTALIZED TERRAIN. (THAT MAY OR MAY NOT ONLY BE CONNECTED TO THE NOTION OF “POST-WAR” SOCIAL DEMOCRACY)
THE BOOK (THE TEXT AS OBJECT VERSUS THE FILE TO BE EXCHANGED.)
IMMATERIAL LABOUR (CULTURAL CONTEXT OF THE COMMODITY)
ANALOGOUS MAPPING (WHERE DO THE DISCURSIVE MODELS EMERGE FROM IN A HEAVILY INSTRUMENTALISED CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT)
CULTURAL ECHOES (WHAT ARE THE DANGEROUS ECHOES OR PARALLEL MODELS: THE JIM JONES EFFECT?)
SITES OF PRODUCTION (THE SITES OF PRODUCTION STILL REQUIRE WORK. THIS IS THE REASON FOR MISUNDERSTANDINGS AND HIERARCHIES WITHIN EVEN THE MOST DYNAMIC DISCURSIVE MODELS)
AGENCY IN RELATION TO ECO-POLITICS (CARBON EXCHANGE: THE LUKACS QUALITY OF ECO-SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS. THE OVER-RIDING OF THE POLITICSISZED DISCOURSE)
COALESCENCE/RETURN OF CLASSICAL RELATIONS OF PRODUCTION (+ THEIR ERASURE IN A DEVELOPED SENSE – DE-UNIONISZM ETC.)
CONSENSUS MODELS AS A PHANTOM PARALLEL (MODEL OF SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS – AMELIORATED WORKING ENVIRONMENT…)
DETAILED WORK IN THE CULTURAL FRAME (WHO IS DOING IT? WHERE IS THE CONTEMPORARAY DYNAMIC LOCATED? ART CURATING THEORETICAL FOCUS)
Night School is an artist’s project by Anton Vidokle in the form of a temporary school. A yearlong program of monthly seminars and workshops, Night School draws upon a group of local and international artists, writers, and theorists to conceptualize and conduct the program.
Liam Gillick is based in New York and London. Numerous solo exhibitions since 1989 include “Literally,” The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2003; “Communes, bar and greenrooms,” The Powerplant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto, 2003; “The Wood Way,” Whitechapel Gallery, London, 2002; “A short text on the possibility of creating an economy of equivalence,” Palais de Tokyo, 2005. Selected group exhibitions include “Singular Forms,” Guggenheim Museum, 2004; 50th Venice Biennial, 2003; “What If,” Moderna Museet, Stockholm, 2000 and documenta X, 1997. Numerous public projects and interventions include Fort Lauderdale Airport in 2002; the new Home Office government building in London in 2005 and the Lufthansa Headquarters in Frankfurt in 2006. Since 1995 Gillick has published a number of books that function in parallel to his artwork including Literally No Place (Book Works, London, 2002); Five or Six (Lukas & Sternberg, New York, 1999); Discussion Island/Big Conference Centre (Kunstverein Ludwigsburg, Ludwigsburg, and Orchard Gallery, Derry, 1997), Erasmus is Late (Book Works, London, 1995) and most recently PROXEMICS: SELECTED WRITINGS 1988–2006 (JRP|Ringier, Zurich, 2007). Gillick has contributed to many art magazines and journals including Artforum, Parkett, Frieze, Art Monthly, and he also writes a regular column for Metropolis M in Amsterdam. He has taught at Columbia University, New York, since 1997. A retrospective series of exhibitions opened in January 2008 at Witte de With and the Kunsthalle Zurich travels to the Kunstverein München in July, and ends at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago in January 2009.
All events are free with Museum admission but tickets are required. Tickets can be reserved online or at the Museum one week before the seminar’s start; a limited number of tickets will be available one hour before each event’s start. Tickets are limited, distributed on a first-come-first-serve basis, and must be collected prior to the event’s start time. Unclaimed tickets will be released promptly at the event’s start time. Please check individual events below for tickets and more information.
For tickets see www.newmuseum.org/events
Night School is part of the Museum as Hub, which is made possible by the Third Millennium Foundation.
With additional generous support from the Metlife Foundation
Additional support is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and the New York State Council on the Arts.
Endowment support is provided by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Skadden, Arps Education Programs Fund and the William Randolph Hearst Endowed Fund for Education Programs at the New Museum.
Generous support also provided by the Charlotte and Bill Ford Artist Talks Fund.
